Defense Secretary Jim Mattis listens to a question about Russia from the media at the Pentagon, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017, in Washington. Senior American and Russian military leaders met for an unprecedented, face-to-face session somewhere in the Middle East this week to discuss the growing tensions in the competing battles to retake one of the remaining Islamic State strongholds in Syria. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Earlier today I posted on President Trump canceling a trip to the South American summit over the weekend. Now Secretary of Defense James Mattis has cleared his calendar:

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has canceled two weekend appearances in the San Francisco area as President Donald Trump considers a U.S. military response to a chemical attack in Syria.

Mattis was scheduled to appear at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on Saturday, followed by an event at Stanford University on April 16 with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Along with those events, Mattis also canceled a scheduled trip to Nevada, reports Fox News, citing U.S. officials.

The UN Security Council is scheduled to vote this afternoon on a resolution establishing a UN fact-finding visit to the scene of the last chemical attack in Syria. It is widely believed that Russia will veto the resolution. We can safely surmise that we expect some action during the hours of darkness today or tomorrow (which starts around 1 p.m. EDT)